Fearless
by Neon Genesis
Summary: The first time I met Sasuke, he bit my finger. Quite the charmer, that boy. SasuSaku.
1. Chapter 1

**Fearless  
**

_#1. Of Adorable Yellow Boots and Finger-Biting_

I remember when I first met Sasuke.

Well, kind of, anyway. Not the specifics—just that we were like, four or five or something, and in a department store, I believe…oh! And it was raining that day. I remember 'cause I was wearing an adorable yellow rain-jacket with adorable yellow rain-boots. I looked like the fricking Morton Salt girl.

But anyway. I'd gotten separated from my mother, but I wasn't worried too much because, y'know, when you're an adorable little girl in adorable yellow boots, worrying isn't high on your priorities list. Neither is learning how to spell the word 'priorities,' but that's another story.

So there I was, wandering around and touching everything and being adorable, when I saw him. He was hovering a few feet away from where two women were talking, one of them wearing salesperson attire and the other his mother (I only learned that later, though). He was scowling and sulking and looking like he was working himself up to a classic I-Am-a-Small-Child-and-I-Am-Being-Ignored-and-I-Am-Not-Okay-With-This tantrum. I thought he was beautiful.

Which is probably why I ran up to him, pointed my finger in his face, and exclaimed ecstatically, "You look like an angel!"

He stared at me. Then he frowned and screwed up his face in concentration.

And then he bit my finger.

And it freaking _hurt_.

* * *

So there's some stuff I need to say. Bear with me, it'll make you a stronger person in the long run.

_Samurai Deeper Kyo _has officially taken over my life. KyoYuya has ousted SasuSaku for the dubious honor of being my OTP. What will that mean for my SasuSaku writing? Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. I dunno, yet. But I just thought of this idea like, twenty minutes ago. It's standardized testing week, and I opened up a Word document with the intent of writing this like, SasuSaku vampire reincarnation story that was gonna be all angsty and depressing and they were both gonna end up dying. Because standardized testing messes with my mind. But as soon as I saw the blank document...I started typing and this was born. It was all very disconcerting, but I like to think that I go with the flow.

Eneeweigh. This is gonna be like, a series of related drabbles, basically chronicling Sasuke and Sakura's relationship from four (or five or something) up to...uh, whenever it ends. Again, I like to think that I go with the flow. AND YES I KNOW THAT THE CONCEPT IS IN NO WAY ORIGINAL. Your face.

The others will be longer and actually have SasuSaku in them, I swear. Oh, and when you get the chance? Actually, not when you get the chance. READ SAMURAI DEPER KYO NOW. Or I myself will throw a tantrum. And it will not be pretty, I promise you that.

Oh, and guys? Thanks for all conspiring to update when I don't have time to read. Really. I appreciate that. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE.

I think my author's note is longer than the drabble. Actually, it is. Man, is that sad or what? -is impressed with own ability to ramble-

(And who can tell that I'm currently obsessed with Taylor Swift's new CD? =D)

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers applied. I don't know what that means, but I saw it on TV. And everything you see on TV is true. I mean, obviously.


	2. Chapter 2

**Fearless**

_#2. Of Barney and a Beginning_

So I'm standing there, right, and this kid is seriously _biting my finger_. But then he let go and just kind of stared at me again.

After very little deliberation, I did what any self-respecting four-or-five-or-something-year-old would do:

I cried.

And then I kicked him in the shins.

--

After much apologizing on my mother's and Sasuke's mother's parts (during which time Sasuke and I stood there and stared sullenly at each other), a play-date for the two of us was arranged.

Because mothers are freaks like that.

My mom dressed me up in a cute little red jumper, swept my hair into two pigtails (with those really adorable pom-pom hair-bands, you know?), and deposited me in Sasuke's room while she and Sasuke's mother sat in the Uchiha living room, talking and drinking coffee and doing other grown-up things, I can only imagine.

As for Sasuke and me? It was pretty awkward.

Sasuke took one look at me, handed me a coloring book and a crayon, and pointed to a corner of his room. "You stay over there. Don't bother me."

Okay, so like, _rude much_?

Thing is, though, I was pretty shy at that age, and so in awe of Sasuke's—well, his _prettiness _that I kinda just meekly retreated to my designated corner.

To this day I'm still ashamed of such a blatant display of female subservience. I like to think that I've made up for it in the years that followed, though.

I colored for a little while, but then I got bored. I mean, first of all, it was a pirate coloring book. Not really my thing at the time. (But now? Pirates? Orlando Bloom, Johnny Depp? Can I hear a HELL YES?) Second of all, the one crayon he gave me? It was blue. Yuck.

Which lead me to pipe up: "…Hey, Sasuke-kun?"

He looked up from his book and scowled. "What?"

I shrank under his gaze. "Uh…I…what are you reading?"

He sneered at me. "A book."

Shy I might have been, but there was only so much I would put up with. "I can see that it's a book, dummy! What's it _called_?"

How a four-or-five-or-something-year-old could look so patronizing, I still don't know. "What, you can't read?"

I marched over to him, snatched the book (which turned out to be _Robin Hood_) out of his hands, and hit him over the head with it. "Of course I can read! I can even read chapter books! Why are you so mean?"

He blinked at me, struck dumb by either my words or the blow to the head. (It was probably the blow to the head.) "I'm not mean."

I crossed my arms. "Yes you _are_."

He glared at me. "No I'm not!"

I pouted. "Prove it!"

"By doing what?"

That gave me pause. "Ummm…" Cue light-bulb. "Be my friend!" I smiled, pleased with my own cleverness.

Sasuke cocked his head. "Why would I want to be friends with someone as annoying as you?"

My smile disappeared, only to be replaced by a wobbling lower lip. (The kicked-puppy look? I invented that, if you must know.) "See! You're a meany-face!" (Don't I come up with the best insults? I mean, seriously.)

He clenched his fists. "I am not mean!"

I stared at him accusingly. "Then why won't you be my friend?"

Sasuke glared at me, crossed his arms over his chest, and eventually mumbled to the floor, "…Because I've never had a friend before."

I considered this. "Do goldfishes count as friends?"

He thought about it. "No." (Don't listen to him, Pablo! You were always my first friend. I can't believe Mom flushed you down the toilet just because you died. The nerve of some people.)

"Then I've never had a friend, either." I smiled warmly at him, and while it's not like I could see myself, I'm sure I looked perfectly adorable. Not that I didn't always—_do _always. Yes. "Then I'll be your first friend, and you'll be mine!"

He eyed me, but I guess he couldn't find anything objectionable about my proposal. "…Friends," he agreed, and then he kind of smiled at me, almost shyly.

Oh God, it was so beautiful.

I immediately threw myself at him, wrapping my arms around him and burying my face in his chest.

He fell over onto the floor and started struggling. "What are you doing!"

"I'm giving you a hug," I said into his shirt. "That's what friends do." (It's amazing what you can learn on Barney.)

"I don't want a hug!" he yelped.

I detached myself and scowled at him. "Then what are we supposed to do?"

After much deliberation, he came up with "Shake hands. That's what my dad does with his friends."

I regarded this proposal skeptically, as I had never seen anyone shake hands on Barney. "If you say so…"

And so we shook hands.

I guess…I guess, as stupid and cheese-y as it may sound, that was our beginning.

* * *

Told you it'd be longer. I think. After thinking about it, I realized that this is really more of a story than a drabble-collection. Which really only means that I'm going to take that out of the summary as soon as I post this. It's really not worth mentioning, but still.

Unrelated:  
1) Latest Naruto chapters. So. _Boring.  
_2) So apparently I'm almost guaranteed to have genetic disorders that lead to strokes and blood clots. Can you say something to look forward to?  
3) Am I the only person who's appalled that there is now a Hannah Montana cereal? "Multi-grain secret identity cereal"! No, seriously.

Disclaimer: Honestly? I don't want to own Naruto. At one point, yes, but now...nope. Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp? _Yes_. Don't own 'em, though, nor do I own Barney. You're surprised, I know.


	3. Chapter 3

**Fearless**

_#3. A Grasping Hand  
_

After that, I started coming over to Sasuke's house a lot. He gradually became warmer and friendlier towards me, and I began to discover that there was a lot more to Sasuke than what met the eye—like everyone, I suppose.

He wanted to be exactly like his older brother, Itachi, whom I met on my third visit, I believe; I liked him because he was nice and polite and called me 'Sakura-chan' and ruffled my hair.

And he took us out for ice cream, sometimes. You gotta love anyone that provides you with free ice cream. (I got mint chocolate chip while Sasuke always opted for plain vanilla—which I found to be something very close to blasphemy, but hey, there's no accounting for taste.)

Sasuke was good at everything that he tried. Reading, writing, mathematics, pushing himself on the swing-set (out of the activities named, it was that last one that I most admired). It made him kind of arrogant, but I was also very good at all things academic, so I regularly took him down a notch.

We played outside most of the time. He had a _huge _yard, equipped with a team of professional gardeners and everything. (Only to perform the really mundane tasks like mowing the lawn and trimming the hedges and stuff, though; Sasuke's mom worked the vegetable garden and tended the flowers herself, which I thought was really cool of her.)

It was Sasuke that first showed me how to kick a soccer-ball, throw a football, and hit a baseball. Name pretty much any sport there is (okay, not rugby, but who really plays rugby, anyway?), and you can bet that Sasuke and I played it, on his front lawn and in his backyard, during those childhood days so long ago, back when everything was fine and everything was easy and there was no doubt in my mind that I was among the very first in Sasuke's heart.

He got frustrated with me, sometimes, when I couldn't run as fast or climb as high or jump as far. He'd scowl at me and cross his arms and I'd feel so _bad_, like I'd failed him or something, even though I just couldn't make it to the next branch on the tree.

But then he'd reach down and give me a hand up, and I'd feel like I could scale mountains, if only I could always have him there to help me.

Sasuke was actually my first kiss, too.

Okay, so not in _that _way. We were playing soccer, and I was getting ready to kick the ball when I guess I just misjudged the distance between my foot and the ball (foot-eye coordination, _hah_) and I went tumbling and got the skin on my left palm all shredded and bleeding and crap.

Before I met Sasuke, I would have immediately started wailing, but he _hated _it when I cried, so I bit my lip and took it like a man. My eyes watered and my lower lip wobbled, it's true, but I'm not telling you this so you can judge me.

Sasuke ran over to me. "Are you okay?" (Okay, seriously? I'm sitting on the ground, my left hand looks like some rabid dog used it as a chew-toy, and I'm about to start screaming my head off. I've never been better.)

I hiccupped, which Sasuke apparently took as a 'no,' because he knelt down and inspected my hand, his brow furrowed. "You're bleeding." (Thanks for that—I never would have noticed if you hadn't pointed it out. Really, what would I do without you?)

He cautiously poked the wound. I yelped and he immediately retracted his hand. "Sorry." I nodded, and we kind of just sat there for a while until Sasuke, his face set in determination, leaned in a brushed my injured palm with his lips, the way my mom would kiss my skinned knees.

I gaped at him, because even then the concept of Sasuke and displays of affection being grouped together was ludicrous.

He frowned at me. "What?" He looked away self-consciously when I only blinked. "That's what my mom does when I get hurt…" he paused. "And she gives me a band-aid." He looked at my palm. "We should probably get you a band-aid."

I smiled at him and nodded again; he got up, reached down and grabbed my uninjured hand. He hauled me to me feet more than he helped me, but it's the thought that counts with Sasuke.

(For the record, the band-aid? It was a Spider-Man one. It was pretty pimping.)

I remember a lot from those days, probably because I reflect on them so often. I remember the time we tried to make tomato soup and accidentally set his mom's favorite curtains on fire; the time his dad yelled at us for coloring on important legal documents (I don't know why he was complaining, I mean, my butterfly really livened up what was otherwise an extremely tedious piece of paperwork).

I remember the forts we would build out of blankets, the grass-stains on our sneakers, and exactly how Sasuke's face looked when he smiled.

One thing has really stuck with me through the years, though. One image, one concept.

We were playing tag, and I was It, and I was running as hard and as fast as I could, but now matter how hard I tried, I couldn't catch him.

I'd stretch out my arm as far as I could, but he always eluded me.

Sometimes I'll wake up in the middle of the night and that image will be seared to the insides of my eyelids—my grasping hand, his back, and just knowing…

_I can't reach him._

_

* * *

_Beware my foreshadowing. -collapses into fit of manic giggles-

For those of you who have been asking...NO, EVERYTHING IS ALRIGHT IS NOT GOING TO HAVE A SEQUEL. Sorry for yelling (Caps-locking), but it's really starting to bug me. I do believe that I made it clear in my last author's note. Of course, my memory is crap, so who knows. But still. No sequel. Move on with your life.

Unrelated:

1) Why does it snow on the day that I already have school off? I mean, seriously.  
2) Is Avatar: The Last Airbender dorky? I mean, I watch it and I love it, but I do think it's dorky. (We'll see what the public thinks, my dear Marie.)  
3) Could I get a round of virtual!applause for the few that I have convinced to read Samurai Deeper Kyo? Namely, Marie, Jen, Sharon, and Missa, who was only on chapter three, last time I heard, BUT IT COUNTS. (In case anyone missed it, that was a cue for those of you who haven't read it to START READING IT. ...I feel like I'm pushing drugs. D:)

Hey, a D: looks kind of cool with a part of a parentheses. Like it has a unibrow or something.

Dicslaimer: No ownage.


	4. Chapter 4

**Fearless**

_#4. Not-So-Golden Years_

Eventually Sasuke and I got shipped off to kindergarten. We were in the same class, which I guess I should have been grateful for, but I'd never even really considered it possible that we _wouldn't _be in the same class, you know?

Back then, I thought that Sasuke and I would be together forever.

The very first day, the teacher launched into a speech about how, yes, we were here to learn, but that it was very, very important to make friends, so everyone get along, okay?

I remember that I just sat there through the whole thing, listening sort of condescendingly and thinking, _I don't need any other friends. I have Sasuke-kun. _(And Pablo. Except you'd died by that point, hadn't you? Doesn't matter. You're always with me in spirit, even while you're up in fishy heaven playing Go Fish. There's a little fish humor for you. Hope you enjoyed.)

So I didn't even try to make friends. I stuck with Sasuke—who didn't try to make other friends, either. I don't know whether he just didn't want any or whether he thought that I was enough.

Whatever Sasuke wanted to do, I did, and wherever Sasuke wanted to go, I went. (Again, my female submissiveness in those days? Sickening. Who did I think I was, _Bella_ from _Twilight_? Please. I like to think that I had _some_ amount of personality. And self-respect. And independence. And—but I'll stop now.) The teacher tried to separate us at first, get us to interact more with the other kids, but after a while she gave up and let us be.

The other kids tried to interact with us, though. The boys all thought that Sasuke was the _coolest kid ever_—until they found out that he had the personality of a block of cement.

Actually, no. Blocks of cement aren't usually spoiled, self-centered, obnoxious, rude, and demanding. Blocks of cement don't take themselves way too seriously. No, Sasuke was Sasuke, and that's all that needs to be said on the matter.

The girls, on the other hand, were absolutely besotted with him, which I resented but understood—I mean, let's face it, the kid's gorgeous until he opens his mouth. (_And_ _bites your fricking finger—_)

They all tried to get to him through me. _Sakura-chan, do you mind if I sit with you during lunch? You'll be with Sasuke-kun, right? _And _Sakura-chan, come play with us! You'll bring Sasuke-kun, won't you?_

Even though I didn't want them as friends anyway, it still kind of hurt, you know? That they didn't want to be friends with me, only Sasuke. I guess what goes around comes around. (Oh wow, did I just make a mildly-obscure Justin Timberlake reference? Gross.)

Some other kids disliked Sasuke because it seemed like he thought that he was better than them (and, knowing Sasuke, he probably did). They couldn't really pick a fight with him, though, because he intimidated them—from the beginning it was clear that Sasuke was the most athletic out of everyone, and his scowl had sent girls (and boys, actually) running and crying before.

I guess that's why they started picking on me.

They thought that I considered myself better than them, too. They decided that I thought I was special because I was Sasuke's only friend.

And, honestly? I kind of did think I was special because of that. I mean, yeah, Sasuke could be a jerk and a brat, but...but whenever I could make him smile or laugh, it…it was the most amazing thing.

And when he showed that he cared about me, I was sure, so sure, that I was the happiest, luckiest girl in the world.

(Looking back on all this now, it kind of makes me want to cry. But I'm done crying over him.)

Anyway. They started picking on me, teasing me, calling me names and pulling my hair. They said my hair was too bright, my forehead too big. _Stupid_, they called me. _Ugly_, they called me.

All of this went on only when Sasuke wasn't looking, wasn't paying attention, wasn't there.

They knew I wouldn't tell.

And I wouldn't, because…it might sound kind of strange, maybe even obsessive, I guess, but I kind of considered the hazing to be just a part of being Sasuke's friend. Like, Sasuke…I know that Sasuke's human, sometimes even more human than anyone, but other times…other times it's just like he's above me, above everyone. And when you're friends with a person like that, of course some parts are going to be hard.

I guess that just like, I thought the sacrifice to be worth it? (Man, I'm starting to sound like a suicide bomber. This is seriously Not Cool.)

You guessed it, though. Sasuke found out anyway. Over time my tormentors got more and more confident—more careless. Near the end, Sasuke couldn't help but noticed my scratched cheeks, or my ruined homework, or my watering eyes.

_I fell down_, I told him. _My goldfish ate it_, I told him. _I got something in my eye, _I told him.

_You're not _that _clumsy_, Sasuke responded. _Your goldfish died, _Sasuke responded. _For the ninth day in a row? _Sasuke responded.

(For the record, it was at that point that I realized that I really kind of sucked at lying. But still. You do not mention the death of a friend's beloved fish to them! That is just _rude_.)

So Sasuke caught on. The day he figured it all out was the day it all ended and they left me alone. I'm not sure what he did to them, if he did anything. All I know is that it stopped and that I had never adored him more.

I guess that's what it was. Adoration. I'm not going to say that I loved Sasuke, not even in a platonic way. I…I was just a kid, you know? I didn't know what love was, not really, or what it was to love someone.

All I knew was that up to age eight, Sasuke was my world, and while I don't think that I was his, I knew that I was at least a very important part of his.

And then he met Naruto.

That's when we started to fall apart.

* * *

Yay foreshadowing. -smiles brightly- But why are you all assuming that Sasuke's going to leave? Jeez. I have a _little _bit of creativity. Ish. Actually, don't respond to that.

And I've decided that this is going to be the prequel to my originally-planned multi-chapter. Just to get it out there.

Oh. And I just couldn't resist the _Twilight _bash, I'm sorry - especially after reading Kenna's (EWHH its Kenna) Twilight!parody, _Daybreak_. It's seriously the funniest thing. -bounces-

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Or a goldfish, which is kind of a sore spot for me. -emos-


End file.
